For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning. -Psalm 30:5

I love this verse. It’s one of those “coffee cup” verses, if you will, but there is a reason it’s “cliche.” I hate that bible verses can even be labeled as “cliche”, because they wouldn’t be considered so if people didn’t use them inappropriately, out of context, or toss them around without any heart or meaning behind them. But, y’all, this verse is huge. It’s the epitome of what joy and grace is. The Message version, which is a paraphrase of the Bible, says it like this:

“All you saints! Sing your hearts out to God!Thank him to his face!He gets angry once in a while, but acrossa lifetime there is only love.The nights of crying your eyes outgive way to days of laughter.”

Mornings in general are my favorite thing in the world. It’s my favorite time of day, because I get to set my goals for the day, pray, and choose to either make it a good day or a bad day. And, if I don’t get my full morning routine… my whole day is completely off. I know some of you right now are thinking, “ew, you’re one of those”- but stick with me! 😉

But seriously, mornings are the best and this verse even says so! Joy comes in the morning, even when the night is dark, even when we cry our eyes out, God shows up. He is there in the darkness, and the best news ever is that MORNING ALWAYS COMES. We get to rejoice in the truth that, as Christians, we can make mistakes, fall short (hello, this happens daily), and do things that hurt God’s heart, but he never leaves or forsakes us. We get to laugh at the days ahead, even in our hurt and humanity, because of how good God is. CAN I GET AN AMEN.

Joy is a choice. It’s always accessible to you, but you have to grab it to have. Joy is easy to access when we realize it’s there, but it’s also just as easy to forget about. And, unfortunately, this is something we know all too well. I am so quick to forget how good my God is. I get so hyper focused on where I am failing, or falling short, or not living up to my expectations, or not as in shape as I want to be no matter how hard I try for that 6 pack, or I don’t have all the shoes I want because of that budget life… y’all the list continues… but God tells me I am perfect as is. That this world is but a breath, and it will pass. So, with that, don’t you think that whatever it is you’re going through shall pass, too?

Praises.

I am always embarrassed when I get asked how I am so “happy” all the time, because I feel like it’s a slight at telling me I am that obnoxious person who is TOO happy. But, in all seriousness I am also shocked when people ask me this, because I know the inner workings of my heart. When my mind speaks louder than my heart, when emotions take hold of my thoughts, they tell me life is a raging storm, that I am a mess, that I am mediocre at everything I do… just being real here for y’all. But, because I am marked by the joy of Christ, even in my messiness, even in the dark inner workings of my heart… God makes himself known. If that’s not a testament to how much bigger God is than all we face, and how he can use ANYBODY to spread his message… then I don’t know what will. I am a frazzled, frantic, anxious mess way more than I would like to admit… but God makes himself known NOT because I am the bomb. Definitely not. But, it’s because I am chosen, his daughter, and he says to me “Hannah, even when you mess up, even when you let anxiety speak louder than what you know to be true, I love you. I use you for MY works and for MY glory.”

MIND.BLOWN.

I am so underserving of God’s grace. I feel like at this point he sitting up there shaking his head saying, “Really? You’re freaking out again? You’re questioning your worth… again? Wasn’t it enough I sent Jesus to prove how much you are worth?” BOOM. Ouch. Y’all, anxiety is my biggest struggle. I never thought I would have to say that… like, ever. It just happens, and if you’ve ever struggled with anxiety you can cope with me when I say that no matter how much you try to rationalize it or make it better… there’s not a whole lot you can do. But pray. And I have never felt closer to the Lord because of it. Even in my brokenness, he makes me whole. Because I strive for joy, not even nailing it but merely striving for it, He says “you are equipped and able to do my works.”

Choosing joy won’t happen easily sometimes. That doesn’t make you a bad Christian or a bad person, haha. It’s pretty normal, because we are human and we are bent to run from God. But don’t run, y’all. Every time you fall, run right back to the start. I cannot express how deeply God loves you and how much better it is to rest in knowing he is in control.

How to Find Joy

Live a prayerful life. The more you pray, the easier it is to see Christ in all things.

Be thankful. Thank him to his face, Psalms said! Be sure to recognize the things you DO have and thank him for it.

Find quiet space in your day. (I am the worst at this!) Be still, read, turn things off for at least 15 minutes. Do whatever it takes to have moments of rest and peace. No tv. No emails. Nothing.

Read your Bible. Guys, if reading the bible is a struggle for you, consider reading The Message version alongside your translation. Sometimes I just read The Message for encouragement. Like I mentioned above, it’s a paraphrase of the Bible, so it’s not the original text, but it’s translated by someone who captured the heart of the wording in the original text and it’s easier to digest.

Don’t compare. It’s so much easier said than done, but it’s true when it is said that comparison is the greatest thief of joy. This goes back to having a grateful heart.

Know what works for you…. let me elaborate. So, I know that I am a home body. I love to be home, I love being curled up with my dog and a book, some cozy sweatpants, and the same movie I watch 10 times a week way more than going out. Now, this can get me in trouble, because I could literally do this every day of my life and be content, but God calls us to live in community. So, it won’t be fully satisfying. BUT, I say this because I know that if I try to live a “yes” life that I go hang out with people all the time, go to every event I am invited to, or WHATEVER it might be, then not only will it not last long but it will end badly. I will burn out and I know all too well that lifestyle isn’t for me. And, I have to be OKAY with that.

I love y’all so much. You are seen, heard, and loved so much more by God. I hope you hear that and own it.

We LOVE the holiday season and spending it with our families. The hard part has been meshing traditions from two completely separate families that we cherish so deeply without killing ourselves in the process. If we tried to please everyone, follow every tradition we love, and do EVERYTHING exactly as it was before we got married… we wouldn’t be able to enjoy the Christmas season as much. It would feel more like a long checklist of “must do” instead of “want to”. Mixing the old with the new, all while creating our own traditions together has proven to be a hard task! I can’t expect Paul to want to do Christmas EXACTLY how I did it growing up, nor can he expect the same of me. And, despite the wish deep, deep down in my heart to run out of my bedroom with my siblings while Mom and Dad video tape us with the Camcorder every year still… I know that I can’t and won’t do that really ever again. (Paul probably says “Thank God” to that.) The holidays as a married couple means picking with my husband what we want to do for our own family traditions, keeping our time together at Christmas sacred, and even though it’s just the two of us for now, creating a magical time of year for our future family. It means compromising, mixing and meshing, and putting together a tailor made Christmas season for us inspired by both of our backgrounds, loving the traditions each of us grew up with.

The heart of all of this is Paul is now my family. That’s so hard to grasp. (Even three years later!)

Creating new traditions is a hard transition. But, it’s also so much fun.

This is Paul’s and my third Christmas married, and every year we add something new and change things up.

This year, we added something that both of us have always wanted to do, but neither of our families did… a real Christmas tree!

We forced ourselves to wait until the day after Thanksgiving to put up our tree, mostly because tree farms aren’t open before, and took our parents and my grandma and grandpa with us to our first tree farm adventure. NONE OF US had EVER been to one before. Isn’t that crazy?! I got to watch us all trek across acres of trees that, after a while, just begin to look identical and you get a little flustered because you aren’t quite sure what you want. It’s a big decision, picking out a tree! We placed moms and grandmas at potential contenders so we wouldn’t forget where they were/wouldn’t lose it, and my daddy, hubby, and grandpa walked around pointing at different trees commenting on how straight the trunks were, if the pine needles looked healthy, and if there was only one single branch up the middle…I learned a lot. You see, my dad was a forestry major in college at Texas A&M, so… my daddy knows a thing or two about trees. After what felt like forever, we assembled our ladies who were scattered across the farm and announced that we had found our tree. The Morrison family Christmas tree. It no joke was so magical. We turned on Christmas music while Paul played lumberjack, sawing our tree down, and my dad waited to catch it at the top. I don’t know what it was about it, but seeing the two most important men in my world chopping down a tree together was one of my most favorite memories to date.

Too sappy? (Insert ba-doom-cha drum for punny joke.)

If you love Christmas Vacation as much as we do… perhaps you also just thought of the line “Little full, lotta sap.”

We rode a hay ride together back to the headquarters at the tree farm, and my heart was so happy. We all talked about how each year we have to get a picture, and watch as the group of us changes. New little ones, and others who have left us. It was truly one of my happiest memories to date. I loved every second. I took note of every smell, every sound, every moment I could. I squeezed each person multiple times, just so I could feel their warmth, smell their scent, and soak in every bit of this time together.

This is by far my favorite tradition we have created over the last three years. I know with every fiber of my being it is one that will stick for… forever.

This Christmas we will do Christmas Eve services with Anchor, something new and something I am so excited for. Then, we will come home to have a special dinner. I grew up with lasagna every single Christmas Eve for dinner at a beautifully set table by my momma. The last three years we have done rosemary lamb with risotto and brussel sprouts. But, who knows. Maybe this year I will do lasagna like momma did it. Then Christmas morning, the two of us make french toast casserole, open up gifts together, and Facetime our families who live far away.

We have a hard time holding off on Christmas movies (year round, if we are honest), but White Christmas and Christmas Vacation are held with high regard for ONLY ACTUALLY DURING CHRISTMAS TIME. (Post-Thanksgiving!)

December is when we first started dating (so fitting for us) and this month is our 5 year anniversary together, so we are recreating our first date tonight, which was driving around Grand Prairie for a Christmas Lights tour and drinking hot cocoa while listening to Ella Fitzgerald’s Christmas album. I wish I remembered the exact date.. but I believe it was the 15th!

Fun Story: For our first date, I was super nervous I was going to come home (like every other date) and be over it, and have to break it off the next day. But, I prayed for God to do something really special if this was someone I was supposed to be with. (And I REALLY wanted it to be.) At dinner, we went to Spaghetti Warehouse, when it was time for our bill our waiter came over to tell us someone anonymously had actually paid for our whole meal. I took this as the special sign I had asked for, and knew pretty quickly after that Paul was going to be my husband.

We love the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and go every single year the first week of December. It kicks off our Christmas season. Once the DSO happens, it feels like Christmas is officially here.

Mulled wine is basically on repeat throughout all of December in our household.

Christmas is the best. Traditions are beautiful.

Another new tradition that I look forward to every year, our Christmas photos. And, of course, Hannah of Cottonwood Road Photography didn’t let us down with this year’s. I am still actually trying to pick my jaw up from these. She is so talented, and somehow captures our personalities so well through a camera lens.

My dress and cardigan are all from Landry Kate! Isn’t it the cutest?! If you haven’t been into LK or shopped online with them, you’re missing out on an amazing curation of C-U-T-E clothing.

Crockpot recipes are basically life for us. We have such long days, are in and out of the house, and most nights have something to be at. The last thing we want to do is come home at 8:30 and cook dinner. (Ugh, like last night!) So, the Crockpot saves us weekly. This recipe literally you pour everything in and are like… “uhh… this can’t be right.” But it is.

1) Put the chicken in the crock pot.
2) Top with the tomatoes, corn,
the beans, chili powder, salt and pepper to taste
stir to combine then top with the cream cheese.
3) Cook on low for 6-8 hours, stirring one or twice
to blend in the cheese.
4) Shred the chicken into large pieces

It’s a marshmallow vanilla frosting world in the winter.

It’s the happiest season, the most wonderful time of the year. I love seeing people give, love, be cheery and kind. It seems like this time of year makes being kind a little easier, because the opportunity lurks around every corner. I love it, and if we had snow where I live here in Texas it’d make it EVEN BETTER, because it would make the earth feel like a big layer of vanilla frosting on cake. 😉

The tagline for The Cake Shop is “Spread kindness like buttercream frosting”, which is the whole heart behind The Cake by Hannah. (You can watch this video to learn more about it!) I am particularly passionate about women being kind to each other, cheering one another on in all they are doing.

What would this world look like, how much better would it be, if we didn’t have to worry about what women may be saying about us behind our backs when we walk into a room? What if we lived like it was Christmas ALL YEAR LONG? The spirit of giving and cheer. Perhaps we would all live a little more bold, a little more open, a little more confident… wouldn’t you agree? Love is a fairly simple idea at its core. If the Lord can love me in my sin, my mistakes, and my imperfections, then surely I can love those I come in contact with. EVEN if we disagree on A, B, or C, I love you. We are allowed to disagree. But, we fight for unity in our differences. It’s not easy, but it’s what we can all strive for. If we all became better listeners, what a better world this would be. Slow to speak, quick to hear- so much wisdom in this truth.

Right?

I gathered up some of my favorite ladies to do a shoot in The Cake Shop where they got to style their pieces however made them feel the most beautiful. From head to toe, they came to rock their Cake Shop item with their own personal twist, and I just love how different all of us are. Each of these ladies are so beautiful, inside out, and they embody everything The Cake means. They are intentional in all that they do. They are moms, wives, employees, students, hard workers, and so much more. They approach everything they do with grace, kindness, and the best they have to give.

I am lucky to be surrounded by incredible community. From my church, to friends I have had since I was 14, to people I have met through blogging, I fight for positive surroundings. Now with Christmas time, more than ever, I feel like we have the opportunity to spread kindness like buttercream frosting. Let’s make a pact to join forces with other women, cheer one another on, and love one another big. And, let’s carry it on throughout the year.

Here’s to making 2017 a more positive year, a more positive and unifying year.

Let’s compliment each other, buy one another a coffee in line, and think outside our own little worlds.

Who is ready to #LoveLikeCake in everything they do? None of us are going to nail it. But, here’s to trying. Here’s to being part of something bigger than ourselves.

I love y’all. You are strong, powerful women, and I love being in community with you through this crazy internet thing. 😉 Now go out and be a difference maker. Go change your world.

Christmas is inching closer and closer, and I am getting giddier by the second. But, still even a little sad that the Christmas season is passing by so quickly. I want to box it up in a package and make it stay forever. With a big red bow on top. I wish the month leading up to Christmas day was how the world was all the time! A little jollier, a little kinder, a little more crisp and cheery.

I just finished reading “How’s Your Soul” by Judah Smith. It was, in short, wonderful. An easy, conversational read with a lot of truth and scripture. It challenges you to look deep inside, beyond “How are you”, and into “No really, how is your soul?” The overlying theme of the book is that God is home. Not this world, not our comfort, not the things we create for ourselves… God. So it is when we fail to recognize this that our souls get off- our emotions and spirit, our entire lives are just… off. We cannot and will not live in a “perpetual state of serenity and tranquility” (page 39) where it’s easy to feel the peace of God and know his goodness, so then what? How we respond and react to situations in our life reflects where our trust is, where our hope is, and how our soul is. When our comfort is tested, when we are uncertain about the days ahead and it’s hard to laugh about them, what is our reaction? Do we really trust this whole God thing? Or does our soul tell you ‘yes, God is good until things aren’t, and then it is time to control things myself.’

Guilty, over here.

I found this book really fitting to read during the Christmas season. I have had the the line from O Holy Night stuck in my head, “The soul felt its worth.” This is my favorite line of any Christmas song. It says everything. When Jesus came, our hole, the gap between God and humanity, was filled. Our souls, for the first time since the Garden of Eden felt their full worth. God cared enough about our emotional and soul level stability, that he sent his son as the propitiation for our sin so that we might live full and satisfying lives directly in touch with God. He cared that his people were wandering and stuck under the law, which was his grace and access to him before Jesus. He wanted more, he wanted a relationship with his people restored. We serve a relational God, and that’s proof of it.

The soul felt it’s worth.

Isn’t that such a beautiful line? The weight and depth to it gets sung over and over, year after year, but have you ever really thought about it? So now, our challenge is not the gap between us and God, but our awareness of his presence since that gap was filled. Do you know your soul’s worth? You following me? Judah says in his book, “I am convinced that an awareness of God’s care for us is the key to emotional sanity.” (page 78)

This is everything.

When I lose my heavenly perspective, remembering this world is not my home and that I serve a God who cares about every intimate detail of my life, I suffer from pretty terrible anxiety. I get overwhelmed with the world, scared of the days to come, fearful of what I am doing, believing I am mediocre, and downright a pessimistic. It’s an icky state to be in, and all it takes to fix it is remembering where I stand in the “totem pole”, if you will. When I put myself on top, my soul is at complete unrest. The waves consume me. But, when I humbly remember I am at the bottom, which in this case is the BEST place to be, I find peace. I remember who is king, and that I am certainly not. It is the most freeing spot to find yourself in. I promise, it’s the best to be last (in this situation). 😉

I have found myself, more than usual, anxious lately. I hate it, and it makes me question my faith. I get upset with myself, wondering how on earth I can be so anxious if I believe in Jesus and truly believe all the things I say I do. Surely, a “good Christian” shouldn’t struggle with anxiety, because they believe in the depths of their soul that God is sovereign, and Jesus satisfies, and all the other Christian-y things to say… right?

Ehh, not quite. Like, at all.

We have to be aware of these things- what is causing our soul such unrest? For me, I have chosen to turn off my phone more. Where there is silence in my day, rather than reaching for my phone, I am reaching for a book, or taking time to be still, pray, talk to someone… less phone, less social media, less. It’s sucking my awareness of my soul’s worth and of what I have in front of me.

I just want less world, more Jesus. I don’t get that from scrolling through Instagram.

Listen, their is no hierarchy of Christianity. And we all will stumble, we all will question, we all will doubt. I mean, y’all, it’s kind of crazy sounding what we believe. You wouldn’t be human if there weren’t days you struggle with the Bible, or with your emotions, or with your doubt. I celebrate Christmas because I believe that a baby born over 2,000 years ago in a cave was the fulfillment of the prophecies that had been foretold for generations to the people of Israel as the hope of the world. It’s… a little crazy to say the least. BUT, I believe it with all of my being. I believe the shepherds who recount the story truly saw an angel of the Lord, that the wisemen who recount their experience truly traveled by foot across country to see the hope of the world that they had been waiting for. I believe Jesus is who he said he was, and that because of him, I have full access to God, and get to hear him in my life through the holy spirit. Either Jesus was really convincing to get people, wise men, none the less, who were held with high esteem in society for their brains, to falsely recount his glorious birth… (think about that), and then convince thousands in his lifetime that he was the son of God, oh and then after his death convince hundreds of people he had risen from the dead to WHOM HE APPEARED… or maybe he is really was the son of God.

Proof is in the pudding, y’all. He is who he said he was.

I know it’s crazy. But it happened. You can call it a historical story with flaws, but what do you do with these facts? Either a whole bunch of people were crazy… or maybe, just maybe, this was real.

What a beautiful story, right?

There are so many incredible points that are made in this book, but I want you to read them for yourself. Be encouraged today, sweet friends.

Ask yourself,

How is my soul?

How am I reacting to situations in my life I don’t like?

Am I really putting my full trust in God, or am I holding onto something?

Am I living a surrendered life?

Am I surrounded by uplifting community?

Friends, I want you to experience a full life. I love you so deeply. I know writing about my faith so boldly could turn some of you away. But rather than shutting me out, I would love to have conversations with you. I love differences, I love hearing your hearts. I love chatting through you concerns, worries, and doubts.

Hey, I am Hannah!

Hey y'all, I’m Hannah Morrison. This is my lifestyle blog and online store, The Cake Shop. Above all else, I hope to encourage you to spread kindness like buttercream frosting- generously and without reserve.